Stretch Those Assets!

Will your retirement nest egg last as long as you need it to? That question keeps pre-retirees and retirees awake at night. This show is designed to help them put the question to rest by offering a range of suggestions for how to extend the life of one’s retirement assets so they’re positioned to last a lifetime and even beyond. Those suggestions include positioning nest egg assets for growth, balancing that upside growth potential with protection through diversification, insurance and the like, and managing things like retirement plan assets, Social Security and pension plan benefits. The tools to extend the life of a retirement nest egg are out there. It’s just a matter of knowing how and when to use them.

About 38 million working-age households (45 percent) have no retirement account assets whatsoever.

According to one recent estimate, a healthy 65-year-old couple retiring in 2016 will, on average, pay about $377,000 in lifetime out-of-pocket retirement health care expenses. That’s all after age 65. A couple age 55 today retiring in 10 years, at age 65, would pay a total of $466,000 in health care expenses from age 65, on. And guess what? Health care expenses are expected to rise by an average of more than 5 percent per year, far exceeding inflation.

In 2016, the inflation rate in the US was 2.1 percent, so the rate is inching closer to the 3 percent it has averaged over the long haul. And at that rate, prices will double every 20 years or so.

One analysis indicates that by delaying benefits from age 62 to the full retirement age of 66, a person can generate 33 percent more in monthly Social Security income. By waiting until age 70 to take benefits, they can reap a 76 percent jump in Social Security income. For example, a person who would get a benefit of $1,000 a month at age 62 would get at least $1,333 at age 66 and $1,760 at age 70.

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